Bajaj Auto will not sit on the fence anymore. Reduced to the fringes in the scooter market, the company would often tell investors, analysts and inquisitive journalists that a brand new strategy is in the works. But it stunned the world recently when it announced that it will exit the market. The Kristal, its last scooter, will not be made after March next year.

Bajaj Auto: Yesterday no more

Business Standard

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The top 10 business bestsellers

Consumers are no longer ready to sacrifice nutrition to taste. In fact, they are looking for options that are both healthier and tastier. Several brands have been launched recently to tap this growing demand, for instance, Satva, Sarda and Avesta Good Earth.

KIT: Changing eating habits in India

    This 100-year-old brand for which India is the second-largest market after Brazil has now a mausambi (sweet lime) flavour. Identify it.

The Strategist Quiz (#128)

    The B-school that bears this person&rsquo;s name recruits about a third of its students from outside the business world. He helped inspire the megachurch movement and acted as an informal adviser to the Girl Scout movement in the US. Identify him.

Answers to last week&#39s quiz (#127)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is organising a conclave of recruiters in Mumbai tomorrow to finalise the change in the campus placement process, ahead of the final placements session this year.

IIM-Ahmedabad to change campus placement process

Press Trust of India

The IT major is working with a host of Indian companies in emerging sectors to enable them to improve efficiency and cut costs &mdash; spelling both good business and sound investment for the future.

IBM goes desi

Priya Paul is credited with turning Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels around after she took over the reins in 1990. She runs six boutique five-star hotels under the Park brand &mdash; derived from the chain&rsquo;s first location at Park Street in Kolkata &mdash; in Kolkata, New Delhi, Vishakhapatnam, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, and a luxury cruiser called Apsara in the Kerala backwaters. Three more hotels are expected to commence operations soon, one each in Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata. Most of these have a downtown location &mdash; a distinct advantage for business travellers. Paul has tried to add an element of design and create well-known restaurants and fun spaces. The closely-held company has grown so far on its own cash, though Credit Suisse bought a small stake (between 10 and 15 per cent) in mid-2007 for $55 million. A public offer could happen in the next few years. Paul tells Bhupesh Bhandari her strategy so far and the road ahead.

'We've always watched our cost structures'

The famous &ldquo;Day Zero&rdquo; at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will soon be history. IIM-Ahmedabad in a meeting held with over 30 representatives of top Indian companies today proposed a &ldquo;cluster&rdquo; system by March 2010, wherein companies would be divided as per their sectors and invited on the campus in batches over the weekends.

IIM-A to scrap Day Zero for placement

Sara Lee Corporation&rsquo;s move to focus on its core food and drinks business in the US has altered the portfolio equations in the company permanently. Its body-care business, with key brands such as Radox, Sanex etc, is now in the custody of rival Unilever. Its air-care business, represented by another biggie Ambi Pur, has gone to another giant Procter &amp; Gamble.

Sara Lee: In Godrej custody

The debut was subdued as competitors Pepe Jeans and Arvind Brands&rsquo; Lee managed a faster youth connect. It took another six years for Levi Strauss to get its act together in India with the path breaking campaign &ndash; &lsquo;dangerously low&rsquo; &ndash; and a stronger distribution network.

Innovations give Levi's the right fit

The Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI)'s Gujarat chapter has announced a one-day certificate programme in strategic brand management. To be held at Ahmedabad on January 9, 2010, the programme aims to give an expositional perspective of brand management to the participants.

IMCI offers one-day certificate course in brand management

The Beetle has a bigger role to play for Volkswagen India than just the numbers.

Reverse engineering

The largest selling adhesive in Asia has done much more than memorable ads to stay on top.

How Fevicol moved up the stickiness curve

In a bid to augment growth, the Rs 2,830-crore Dabur India has identified the foods segment in addition to skincare as areas it wishes to focus on in the coming quarters. Dabur India&rsquo;s Vice-Chairman Amit Burman says these categories are critical for the company.

First Dabur campaign on cooking range

Come December and creative folk across agencies are assailed by huge bouts of socially responsible feelings. A sudden urge envelops them to set the world right. More pressing is the fact that these urges have to be fulfilled by December 31 (the cut off date for most advertising awards.) Suddenly copywriters see red if there is less green, their creative juices flow relentlessly as they urge you to wear condoms, cubicles fog up with smoke as you are asked to quit smoking and long evenings are spent at the corner beer bar as newer ways to prevent drinking and driving are mulled over.

Social in December

Although 2009 brought cheer to the education sector with the announcement of a slew of reforms, it would also be a year students and campuses would want to forget in a hurry.

A testing year for students, despite reforms

Over eight years ago, engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&amp;T) decided to join hands with the Shailesh J Mehta School of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The purpose was designing a programme in project management to bridge the human resource (HR) gap in the industry.

Project management gathers momentum as infrastructure grows

The ever-familiar Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate has changed its stripes. Lest you miss the new packaging that a bar of the chocolate will now sport, Cadbury, the country&rsquo;s largest chocolate maker, has lined up a charm offensive to grab more of your attention. The subtle change might be the first step in a brand refresh for Cadbury Dairy Milk. The new packs, which were 18 months in the making, were designed by Pearlfisher, a UK-based design studio.

Cadbury: Brand refresh

Public-private partnerships are on the rise in the Indian healthcare industry.

KIT: Trends in healthcare

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Growing Great

Page 681 - News